


Say It Like You Mean It

by ConstellationStation



Series: Freezerburn Week 2020 [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, F/F, Floriography, Freezerburn Week 2020, Language of Flowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22874872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConstellationStation/pseuds/ConstellationStation
Summary: Day 2: Flowers“I want your most passive-aggressive bouquet of flowers.”
Relationships: Weiss Schnee/Yang Xiao Long
Series: Freezerburn Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642972
Comments: 8
Kudos: 65





	Say It Like You Mean It

The tinny sounds of clashing metal and screaming monsters fill the flower shop. Yang sits behind the counter, leaning back in her chair, idly playing a fighting game on her scroll.

Stupid Ruby, randomly deciding to hang out with her friends and dumping her work on her sister. Yang could be outside, doing literally anything else, but no, she had to watch the flower shop for another four hours. 

With no major holidays ongoing, she doesn’t really expect much customers. There was a kid earlier who came to buy some soil, and an odd couple who were looking for water lilies but had to settle for the terrestrial variety. Yang wouldn’t really be surprised if no one shows up for the rest of her shift though. She was half-tempted to close up shop early.

Since she wasn’t expecting anyone, and was mildly engrossed in her game, she doesn’t notice when the bell above the door chimes. She continues to tap away on her scroll. The 8-bit music of her game becomes punctuated by the staccato clack of heels on tile and Yang spends a moment or two to be confused by that before a pointed “ehem” forces her to look up.

The first thing she sees is white. White hair, white coat, pale skin, the young woman stood out among the vibrant blossoms in the shop like fresh snow in the summer. There was a haughty air in the way that she carried herself, and her expression is that of slight annoyance, made more severe by a scar that ran across her eye.

“Can I help you with something?” Yang asks sheepishly, putting her scroll away.

“Yes,” she smiles, not a genuine one, just the kind of smile you plaster on when you need to deal with people and have to be pleasant about it. “I was wondering if you arrange personalized bouquets? Particularly with a special message in the language of flowers?”

“Ah, floriography, yeah I can do that. What kind of message do you wanna give?”

“I want your most passive-aggressive bouquet of flowers.”

Yang blinks at her. “Come again?”

The woman steeples her fingers together as she elaborates, “is there anyway to say ‘I hate you’ through flowers? I know it’s an odd request and I understand if you don’t really do those kinds of- ”

“Woah, I’m stopping you right there,” Yang moves around the counter to stand before her, “I would be thrilled to make you a hate bouquet.”

The corner of the woman’s lips quirk in a smile, “really?” She sounds eager.

“Heck yeah!” Yang cheers, “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment! Well, not really, but still, it’s exciting.” She nearly grabs the woman’s wrist but stops herself in time, waving for her to follow instead. “I’ll tell you what the flowers mean then pick out what you like.”

“Where to start,” Yang mutters, mind buzzing. Not that this was a pivotal moment in her life, but it was something she’s been wanting to do. Her stepmother adores floriography. She taught it to her and Ruby when they were younger they grew up surrounded in its practice. Sure, the thousands of ways to express ‘I love yous’ are cool, but Yang likes to indulge in the less romantic side such a romanticized art.

“What kind of hate are you going for?” she asks, “is it an ex? Did you have a bad breakup? Is someone cheating on you?”

She laughs, though she’s quick to stifle it, “nothing of the sort. He’s just… celebrating something, and I’m expected to contribute to the festivities. I hate his guts, but if I don’t bring something that at least looks nice they’ll give me grief for it.”

Yang tries to parse through the given information. There’s not much to go off. “A ‘he’ huh, if he’s not an ex, is he some guy who’s trying to court you? And whose ‘they?’”

“Aren’t you nosy.”

“Hey, I can’t get you the perfect flowers if I don’t know what’s up,” she says with a wink. She pauses by a basket of clustered white flowers. “So you actively hate him, not just you don’t care for him? That rules out candytufts.”

The woman leans in to get a closer look at the flowers, “what do they mean?”

“Indifference. Aha, here’s something that fits the bill!” Yang carefully plucks a vibrant orange lily by the stem and presents it to the woman with a flourish. “Behold: pure hatred!”

Their fingers brush when she takes it from her. “You’re kidding, these flowers actually mean those things?”

“Yep,” she responds, popping the p. “Plants could mean anything back in those ye olde times. These days though, people like to make everything all sugar and no spice. Because they’re cowards."

“Take these for example,” Yang gestures to another basket, “yellow roses used to mean jealousy or infidelity. You give them to your lover when you want to tell them you know they’re cheating on you. But for some reason people decided that yellow is just such a happy color that they decided that yellow roses should be a friendship thing.”

“Yellow is actually pretty brutal back then, so don’t let my charming good looks fool you,” Yang makes a show of fluffing up her blonde mane, “my hair is so big and yellow because it’s filled with seething rage.”

The woman’s shoulders shake as she smiles. Yang resolves that she’ll make her genuinely and openly laugh before she leaves the store.

As for now, she still has a job to do. “Other flowers are meaner when they’re yellow too. Yellow carnations stand for disappointment.”

“Oh, I need that! That’s definitely going in the bouquet.”

Yang barks in laughter, “he’s that big of a disappointment huh, what’d he do to you?”

“Nothing you need to know about,” she says, putting a finger to her lips with a conspiratory smile. “Although,” she continues, tone growing softer, “it might be more fitting if he’s the one to gift me the disappointment flowers rather than the other way around.”

Yang’s mirth fades immediately. Self-depreciation didn’t suit this woman, not when she moves with such poise. Not when she won’t let herself laugh. Just who is this person she wants to send hate flowers to?

“Say,” Yang starts as she goes to collect the carnations, “what can you tell me about this guy?”

She hums, “what’s there to say?”

“I could tell you about every offensive thing all these flowers have to say until you find something that clicks, or you can tell me more about your man.”

“Don’t call him my man,” she makes a disgusted noise. “Let’s see… he’s cold… and harsh… what else?”

“Are you trying to describe a person or the tundra? ‘Cause I can come up with a few adjectives.”

The woman just shakes her head, “that might not be too far off, actually.”

"Fortunately, there's a perfect flower for that! Hydrangeas stand for frigidity and heartlessness."

"How fitting."

Yang bundles up the flowers they collected so far, "you can pick what color hydrangeas you want."

"Any color? All the ones we have right now are so brightly colored. Can I get the pink one? It'll clash horribly with his office." As she picks out the flowers, Yang spots something among the petals.

"You have a good eye, that one comes with a freebie!"

"What kind of free- gyah!"

She jerks back as the bee that had been resting on the flower took flight.

"Hey, it's a good deal!" Yang snickers as the bee hovers around. "Relax, she's not going to sting you. See how she's flying? She's looking around 'cause she's lost. She probably hitched a ride with me to work."

The woman backs slowly away from the bee and towards Yang’s side. “You mean that’s your bee? You keep bees?”

“Yeah,” Yang collects the flowers in her stead, “they pollinate everything on our farm- flowers, fruits, veggies, and we get honey as a bonus too.” 

Yang holds up the flowers to her, “gonna add anymore flowers? I can arrange these already if you want.”

“Let’s see: hatred, disappointment, and heartlessness.” She chuckles dryly, “yeah, I think that’ll do. I am interested more in floriography now though, mind if I keep asking you about it?”

“Not at all, I’d be happy to translate floral trash talk!” She heads back to the counter to properly wrap up the bouquet while the woman continues to browse the flowers, brushing her fingers against their petals as she passes.

She holds up a cluster of flowers with rounded red petals, “what’s this?”

Yang glances up from her selection of wrapping paper. “Those are geraniums, they stand for stupid. Hey, what color wrapping paper do you want?”

“The gaudiest you have.”

“We have this dark blue stuff covered in glitter. It’ll make the flowers stand out, plus it’ll leave a mess.” 

“Perfect.”

She wraps the flowers accordingly, tying it up with a white silk ribbon. She brings it over to the woman. “Princess,” she offers with an elaborate bow, “your flowers are ready.”

She rolls her eyes but curtsies in turn before taking the bouquet, “why thank you.”

Yang looks at the basket they’re standing near. She notices a white aster that was bent at the stem and slipping from the basket. The flower itself was in good condition and she holds it in her palm.

“I didn’t do that,” the woman says stiffly.

“Are you sure?” Yang teases, then snorts as her eyes narrow. “I’m kidding! These things happen in transport sometimes, no biggie. Here.” Yang snaps the stem from where it’s already bent and presents the flower to her, “your actual freebie. And it matches your hair!”

Yang brushes the woman’s bangs out of her face as she tucks the flower behind her ear. She tries not to let her touch linger, tries not to be too weird about it. The aster is somehow both striking and subtle in her hair, a splash of sunshine surrounded by snowy petals.

“Thank you,” the woman reaches up to touch the petals. Her gaze is soft. “Do these flowers mean anything?”

Asters stood for love, daintiness. The white meant innocence, purity. “It means you’re a priss.”

The woman’s cheeks color and she scowls at her, “you’re making that up!”

“Excuse me, who's the expert among us?” Yang can feel herself blush, but she plays it off, “I speak for the flowers, and that is their verdict.”

The woman scoffs and directs her attention to a different batch of flowers. “How about these?”

Yang appraises the fluffy pink flowers. “Peonies? They stand for happy life or happy marriage, but they used to mean shame.”

Her mouth falls open, “really? That’s… wow. I think I’m going to want another bouquet.”

“Another hate bouquet? You sure have a lot of enemies, Ice Queen.”

“First I’m Princess, now I’m Ice Queen?”

“You deserved the promotion.”

She shakes her head, “It’s not a ‘hate bouquet,’ as you put it. I want to make an ‘I’m sorry bouquet’ this time.”

Yang tries to ponder on the context. A happy marriage turned shameful? “‘I’m sorry, please forgive me’ or ‘I’m sorry for your loss?’”

“Both perhaps. Nobody died, but condolences might still be appropriate.”

“Let’s see,” Yang takes inventory of their flowers, “purple hyacinths are for apologies, and white poppies for consolation. Sounds good?”

The woman tilts her head as she considers this. “Can we add something else? Something positive? I don’t think there’s much I can do for her, but I hope things will be better.”

Yang leads her to a basket of flowers with pale pink petals tipped with white. “These are azaleas, they stand for temperance. You give them to people to say ‘take care of yourself for me.’”

“‘Take care of yourself for me,’” she murmurs, “yes, that’s exactly what I want to say.”

There's something about her smile, forlorn but hopeful, that tugs at Yang's heart, that the woman's expression was too tender to look at directly. So she turns away and busies herself with the flowers. As she wraps them up in a neat bouquet- with more tasteful wrapping paper, it dawns on her that her time with the woman was coming to an end.

She punches in the numbers in the cash register and the woman pays for the total with a large bill. 

She's calculating the change when she waves her off. "Consider it a tip, since you've been more than helpful to me."

"This is a really big tip," Yang's eyebrows raise, then her lips curl into a smile as an idea strikes her, "more than enough for me to get us both a cup of coffee actually. There's a pretty nice café not too far from here."

"Are you asking me out?" Her tone makes it sound more like a statement than a question.

"Only if you accept. And once you've made up your mind," Yang scribbles her number on the receipt before she slides it toward her with a wink, "let me know."

The woman folds it primly and tucks it into her breast pocket. "I'll keep that in mind, though I'll admit, it's safe to keep your hopes up."

She leaves the store with a bouquet tucked under each arm and a smile on her face. Yang hadn't succeeded in getting her to laugh like she wanted, but she'll have more time for that later.

* * *

The bell above the door chimes once again. Instead of a customer however, the new arrival was none other than her sister. 

"Ruby!" Yang sweeps her up in a hug before her sister could do anything. "Guess what?" 

She grunts as Yang squeezes her ribs. "You're awfully happy for someone who was grumbling about having to work today. What happened?"

"I just got a date," she declares proudly, "from a really pretty girl!"

Ruby squeals, "I'm so happy for you! What's her name?"

Yang's grin fades as she realizes she never asked. "Uhh…"

“Oh, Yang,” Ruby plucks a geranium and hands it to her sister with a sigh.

**Author's Note:**

> Weiss getting a white aster doesn't really have to do with its floriography. It's because Myrtenaster (the coolest weapon name in all of RWBY imo) means "white aster" and I think it's cute ;w;
> 
> The Xiao Long-Rose-Branwens run a farm, and Raven's there too tho she tries to be edgy about it. Kindly imagine them as an eccentric Harvest Moon family uwu


End file.
